[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 127 (Thursday, October 12, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S10406]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         A TRIBUTE TO JIM HURD

 Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I wish to take a moment to pay 
tribute to Jim Hurd, the founding CEO of Planar Systems, who passed 
away this summer after a year-long battle with leukemia. Jim was a 
pioneering technical and business leader in the U.S. flat panel 
industry, and led Planar Systems of Beaverton, Oregon to become one of 
the largest flat panel display companies in the U.S. and Europe. Jim 
was actively involved at the national level in helping to shape federal 
policy on flat panel displays, and worked on the national flat panel 
initiative and in the formation of consortia to address critical issues 
for the flat panel display industry.
  Mr. Hurd was a leader in Oregon's business community, serving as the 
Chair of the Oregon Council of the American Electronics Association. 
During his term in 1992, he helped develop the Oregon technical 
benchmark annual survey and conference. He was also active in 
supporting technical education efforts in Oregon, and was a member of 
the Board of Trustees of the Oregon Graduate Institute. For services to 
the industry and community, the American Electronics Association 
awarded Jim Oregon's technology executive of the year award in 1993.
  A native of the Pacific Northeast, Jim was born in 1948 in Spokane, 
and grew up in Kennewick, Washington. He received his bachelors's 
degree in physics from Lewis & Clark College in Portland in 1970, where 
he met his wife Alice. Jim joined Tektronics Corporation soon after 
graduation. In 1983, Jim left Tektronics to co-found Planar Systems 
with Chris King and John Laney. Today, Planer employs over 850 people 
in the United States. Jim also lent his wisdom to help other start-up 
companies achieve success by serving on the Board of the Oregon 
Resource and Technology Development Fund, a state-sponsored venture 
capital fund.
  Jim had a rare ability to balance his successful professional life 
with an active private life that included mountain climbing, running, 
bicycling, tennis, scuba diving and a love for auto racing. He was a 
wonderful husband to Alice and a terrific father to his sons, Owen and 
Peter.
  Mr. Hurd will be missed by all of us who knew him.

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